April 11 NEW YORK: New York Lawmakers to Take Historic Vote on Death Penalty Tuesday, April 12; Experts Available for Comment Contact: Quixote Center, 202-321-0653 The New York State Assembly Codes Committee will vote Tuesday, April 12, in Albany on a measure to reauthorize the state's death penalty, which was declared unconstitutional last June. If the committee votes against the death penalty, it will make New York the first state to dismantle the death penalty since the United States reinstated capital punishment in the mid-1970s. New York's Court of Appeals decision left life without parole as the maximum sentence for those convicted of the most heinous crimes. Public opinion polls in New York show a large majority, almost 2 to 1, supporting life without parole as preferred over the death penalty as the maximum sentence and a large plurality opposing reinstatement. New York's move away from the death penalty is one more landmark in a national trend. This year legislation has progressed in New Mexico and Connecticut, the Supreme Court has banned juvenile executions, and New Jersey and Illinois remain under moratoriums. New York's progress demonstrates how the political landscape has changed with regard to the death penalty. New York was the most recent state to reinstate the death penalty in 1995 and is poised to become the 1st to decide that its experiment with death has failed. Shari Silberstein, co-director of the Quixote Center and a leading expert in the national movement to halt executions, will be available in person or by cell phone for comment after the vote. In person, she will be joined by David Kaczynski, the Unabomber's brother and head of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, families of murder victims, and others. The committee is scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12. For a copy of the NY Assembly report based on five days of hearings, see http://www.ejusa.org. WHO: -- Shari Silberstein, co-director, Equal Justice USA/Quixote Center -- David Kaczynski, NYers Against the Death Penalty WHAT: Available for comment after NY Assembly Codes Committee vote on whether to reauthorize state death penalty. WHERE: New York State Capitol, Albany, NY or by cell: 202-321-0653 WHEN: Codes Committee meets Tuesday, April 12 at 11 a.m. (source: US Newswire) COLORADO: High Court Asked To Reconsider Death Sentence Bible-Reading Case----Death Penalty Overturned For Man Who Killed Cocktail Waitress Adams County prosecutors are asking the Colorado Supreme Court for a new hearing after the high court overturned the death sentence for a convicted murderer whose jury consulted Bible passages during deliberations. In a filing, prosecutors say some jurors in the case against Robert Harlan did consult the Bible before voting for the death penalty. But the filing says no juror was significantly influenced, and that jurors were able to avoid substituting biblical mandates for state law. Robert Harlan's death sentence was tossed out because a Bible was brought into the deliberation room. Harlan, 40, was convicted in the 1994 kidnapping, rape and slaying of Rhonda Maloney, 25. He also was convicted of wounding Jaquie Creazzo, a motorist who tried to help Maloney escape from him. Creazzo was permanently paralyzed from mid-chest down after one of the bullets struck her in the spine. The Supreme Court said in a three-two ruling last month that Harlan couldn't be executed because jurors had discussed biblical passages such as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth." Justices ordered a sentence of life without parole. In the request for a new hearing, prosecutors say the Supreme Court was wrong on several points, including the conclusion that the simple presence of a Bible in the jury room was enough to overturn the death penalty. Jurors had testified during an April 2003 hearing that any biblical or religious discussions were brief and not meant to influence others. (source: ABC News) CONNECTICUT: Psychiatrist says Ross wants to go out in blaze of glory Serial killer Michael Ross wants to die in "a blaze of glory" like cult leader David Koresh, a psychiatrist testified Monday during a hearing to determine if Ross is mentally competent to accept his execution. Ross is scheduled to become the first person executed in New England since 1960 for murdering four Connecticut women in the early 1980s. Last year, he decided to end appeals of his death sentence, saying he wished to spare his victims' families the pain of more court proceedings. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 11. But Dr. Stuart Grassian testified Monday that Ross, 45, is a narcissist who has no empathy for those families. Grassian said he believes that Ross has been humiliated by years of solitary confinement on death row and has become depressed. Like David Koresh, who died in a fiery FBI raid on his compound near Waco, Texas, in 1993, or the two Colorado teenagers who killed themselves after shooting classmates at Columbine High School in 1999, Ross is using death as a way to prove his importance, Grassian said. "These are people who can't take it anymore, but who are going to show people how strong and powerful they are. He's trying to go down in a blaze of glory like these guys did." New London State's Attorney Kevin Kane and Ross' lawyer, T.R. Paulding, tried to portray Grassian as someone with an agenda who was promoting a theory about so-called "death row syndrome." Grassian appeared agitated at times during cross examination. They said Grassian was ignoring the fact that Ross tried to end his appeals before he and other inmates sentenced to death were moved into solitary confinement when death row was relocated to Northern Correctional Institution in Somers in 1995. Kane asked Grassian how he felt about the death penalty, and the psychiatrist said he had mixed feelings. During a break in the hearing, however, Grassian gave a reporter a different answer. "As a society, it doesn't serve us well," Grassian said. The hearing was expected to continue Tuesday and end on Wednesday or Thursday. Two other psychiatrists are scheduled to testify. Ross, who insists he is competent, was clearly frustrated by Grassian's testimony. At one point he threw his hands into the air, and at another he turned his chair away from the witness stand toward the wall. Paulding said Grassian called into question many things about Ross, including his religious faith. Grassian said there was no reason to believe Ross has a deep faith. Grassian also kept comparing Ross' legal tactics to a chess game he enjoyed playing. Ross was originally scheduled to be executed on Jan. 26 after a state judge declared him competent, but the date was delayed several times because of court challenges. The execution was put on hold again after Paulding said he needed to explore the possibility that Ross' living conditions may have contributed to his decision to accept execution. Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford appointed another attorney, Thomas Groark, to investigate and argue that Ross is incompetent. Groark hired Grassian, a leading expert on the effects of solitary confinement, to interview Ross. Grassian said death row, where Ross is monitored even when using the bathroom, is a hard place for anyone to live and is "utterly humiliating" for a narcissist such as Ross. Grassian's testimony came on a 3rd day of a hearing that began last week. (source: Associated Press)
